Vogue Fest First

Vogue Fest First

I'm a frantic mess at the moment attempting to pack a month's worth of viable clothing in preparation for my trip as I leave on Tuesday. I almost gave the inaugural Vogue Festival a miss if I'm honest but curiosity got the better of me. If you saw me wandering around the festival's Royal Georgraphical Society venue looking distinctly lost and wild-eyed, it's because there's genuine panic ravaging my brain.

I missed the yesterday's activities (you can read up about it all here and here) and so I headed down today to check out #VogueFest (that's my new name for it given that my entire twitter feed was fully rampant with HASHTAG Vogue Fest activity – whoever is responsible for @BritishVogue's twitter feed should get three gold stars and a Mulberry handbag hanging around in the fashion cupboard). Alexandra Shulman's initiative to bring the magazine to life with this two day "festival" wasn't exactly a surprise nor is it new in the history of print-to-physical events. Vogue Festival follows magazines like Teen Vogue which has made a real experience out of its Teen Vogue University, or Grazia engaging audiences through activities such as working in front of an audience in Westfield shopping centre or holding contests like Fash Factor. As for an actual familiar festival, Dazed & Confused launched Dazed Live last year, which combined a mixture of music acts, talks, film screenings and exhibitions and featured a not-yet-blow-up Grimes performance.

Vogue Festival is understandably a different beast. I can't really call it a "festival" as I understand the word, but it is an impressive gathering of industry heavyweights giving talks and doing Q&A sessions as well as sideline activities like make-overs. It's more like a very polite and educational fashion seminar. At ¬£75 a pop for a each morning and afternoon session, it damn right should be educational and predictably, many of the audience members that I saw were mostly students. Full disclosure, I didn't pay for my ticket and was lucky enough to get a press pass. If i did have to pay, I'd say that the morning session that I saw would have been well worth the moolah, as I got lucky with my trio of events and got to see Tim Walker & Kate Phelan talk through their collaborative work, Q&A's with the Y B D's (young British designers) and a thoroughly entertaining session with David Bailey.

First up, visually I thought perhaps Vogue could have made a better aesthetic use of the space. I'd put that down to this being their first time. Yes, there was Vogue imagery in abundance but it did feel a little flat. What it did do was emphasise Vogue's branding, which I suppose holds enough weight to entrance the audience.

What is a festival without merchandise?

One of the most popular sections at the festival was a photo studio, set up to take people's pictures to be mocked up into a Vogue cover, with make-up provided by Chanel. I liked this well enough but an even better photo opp would be to say try on a piece of Chanel couture or an Alexander McQueen dress for these mock-up covers. Wishful and unfeasible thinking perhaps and yes, I'm a sad act who's nit picking on a Saturday night.

The red lippie station was also quite popular.

Photographer Tim Walker's talk with ex-Vogue fashion editor Kate Phelan (now at Topshop) was so oversubscribed that they had to do it twice as the queue went around the venue. It was worth the wait though as Walker and Phelan took us behind the scenes of some of their most iconic shoots such as Lily Cole in India for the July 2005 issue or Sasha Pivovarova in Northern Russia for the January 2007 issue. If you own Walker's big coffee table tome, Pictures or you have seen a Tim Walker exhibition, you'll be familiar with his fascinating scrapbooks of sketched out shots and reference imagery for every shoot to get those visually stunning results, that remain some of my favourite imagery (not just fashion imagery), of all time. Phelan and Walker recounted stories of working under stressful conditions where you're carrying twelve suitcases on a rowing boat or shooting whilst there's a Russian family punch-up going on in the room.

I learnt a few surprising things such as the fact that Walker shoots entirely on film and that he doesn't rely on any sort of artificial light, reflectors or flash guns. He quite literally chases the perfect daylight to get his shots, which is an incredible feat considering the modern tools at his disposal. Phelan and Walker also grazed the topic of high fashion exotic locale photoshoots and being sensitive to their surroundings. Phelan noted that she didn't like the idea of taking all these luxurious clothes to poor countries and flaunting that contrast. Walker's photographs for me though never take advantage or shine a poor light on whatever far flung location he shoots in though. If anything he's incredibly respectful of where he's going even if he is looking to portray a fantasy and romantic notions of a country rather than a harsh reality. A lovely unexpected touch was when Walker showed us a clip from BBC's Planet Earth of the birds of paradise in Papua New Guinea, which inspired trip there for the Vogue August 2007 spread featuring Iekeliene Stange. It apparently affirmed for Walker why we as humans could be inherently drawn to wearing beautiful things because these male birds of paradise puff up their vividly coloured feathers to attract the females. Notice how the female birds are modestly dressed…

Then we had a fashion take on Question Time. No funny eyebrow moves from David Dimbleby though. We had a host of Young British Designers – Nicholas Kirkwood, Mary Katrantzou, Roksanda Ilincic, Holly Fulton and Henry Holland answer questions from the audience and from Twitter. This mostly consisted of solid business advice from Kirkwood, funny jibes from Holland and a wise words of encouragement from Katrantzou and Kane.

I apologise for this rather demented looking picture of David Bailey. I promise you he was a lot more personable than this picture makes him out to be. I suspect the red facedness was down to a jolly drink or two. Still, that only made for a rollocking session where Bailey candidly went off into wild tangents, averted questions from Vogue features editor Jo Ellison who he was in conversation with and constantly talked about the importance of shooting on a white background, sprinkled with a ton of expletives. A few of my favourite lines…

Enfant terrible is terribly overused as a phrase but it certainly applies to Bailey, who is a self-confessed megalomaniac. His disarming and direct bluntness though has created some iconic imagery and still does, as he genuinely enjoys the act of engaging in a dialogue-based (unless we're talking about beautiful models in the 60s and 70s) wooing of his subjects, before quickly taking their picture. He says he'd love to take a picture of everyone in the world. "Everyone's got a story."

Oh, and he let slip that he didn't really approve of Karan Gillian playing his ex-lover and model Jean Shrimpton in the stunted-and-vaguely-terrible We'll Take Manhattan film. "I'd rather sleep with him (Aneurin Barnard, the actor who played Bailey)."

The big event of the day was unsurprisingly Tom Ford in conversation with Alex Shulman and it drew the biggest crowd. From the moment he stepped in, there was an audible collective swoon and cooing from the mainly female audience and by the end of the talk, I'm sure a few people hopped over to Harvey Nichols to buy a Tom Ford lippie just because he really did charm the socks off everyone. When answering questions from the audience, he'd flirtatiously say things like "You should show everyone those lips", "You've got a great look" or "You look very Toulouse Lautrec from here". His natural repartee and his fluid approach towards sexuality (he doesn't believe in boxed in terms of "gay" or "straight") really makes you see why Tom Ford has seduced women (and men) with his work at Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and now with his own line and cosmetics brand. Although he did show a bit of a blunt edge as just before the talk he said directly to a Vogue editor "You know, your eyebrows could be a little darker" which is indicative of one of his self-confessed defects – his raging perfectionism. I know. Perfectionism as a personality weakness is a bit of a cop-out. In Ford's case, this perfectionism coupled with his workaholic nature has meant that he is heavily involved with every aspect of his business, from physically starring in and shooting his own campaigns to designing the interiors of his stores to trying on his own cosmetics to see how it feels. "When you buy something with someone's name on it, you should know that they had their hand in it."

The talk peaked and troughed with Ford making some interesting commentary on the fashion industry at the moment as well as having a bit of light hearted banter with Shulman…

Inevitably there were questions about Ford's intimate way of showing his collections, which appears to shun the internet and immediate coverage. Ford does concede though that it may not be this way forever even if he feels that fashion has become a "giant snowball rolling down the hill" and that "fashion doesn't need to change as often as it does."

When talking about film and the way he view everything with cinematic reference, that's when Ford really seems empassioned. It seems a second film to follow up A Single Man could be on its way and he's sure to hold audiences once again in his perfect palm (he was hired by one employer on account of his "pretty hands"), just as he did today.

Finally, I stopped off at the How to Customise session with David Koma, J.W. Anderson, James Long and Christopher Raeburn in the hot seats. I do have to say that I wished there was an actual "how to" element to this talk. There was a brief video at the beginning showing quickly how all the designers took their grey marl American Apparel sweatshirts to create their customised pieces but it's nowhere to be found on the internetz and it wasn't exactly explanatory. I suppose the point was to talk up the designers' aesthetic signature rather than showing any actual customisation. There were some great questions directed at the designers though talking about surviving as young designers in London. The gist is that basically London is creatively awesome, there's a lot of camraderie and that Made in Britain needs to be supported. All good sentiments to leave this first edition of Vogue Fest with.

**EDIT** In my midnight posting haze, I should have added a more conclusive paragraph although I was hoping those that went would like to add their thoughts in the comments. Did Vogue Festival succeed as a branding excercise? Yes, and it was clear that the brand resonated highly with those attending as they excitedly queued up to get their mock-up Vogue cover or clutched their Vogue-branded plastic bags of books and merchandise. Did Vogue Festival bring their audience closer into their world and thus was an invaluable experience for those wishing to break into the fashion industry? I think so. The entire editorial staff were onboard helping out in all areas of the event and were up for speaking with guests. The guest speakers were also up for answering questions privately after the talks were finished and Tim Walker and Kate Phelan even looked through prospective photograph portfolios. I'd still conclude that ¬£75 for each morning and afternoon session ticket is a little pricy and may have priced out a lot of other students who wanted to go. Perhaps there should be a student pricing structure set in place, if Vogue do decide to do it again. Like I said though, I speak with a comped press ticket wristband on my arm. I'd like to hear what people who paid and went really thought about it. Answers on postcards!

Oooo, this is awesome Susie. I was so intrigued by Vogue Fest but the only people I seemed to see talking about it in the lead up (on Twitter) was Vogue itself or people that were going to be talking at the event. I didn’t really get the sense of a big excitement like in the days/weeks leading up to fashion week for example. I would have loved to attend and share the experience with my readers but I couldn’t bring myself to pay 75 pounds to go. I’m really curious how much they made from the whole thing… is the money being used to help support Vogue? Is that the whole point of this sort of thing? To generate money and reinforce their status and brand… to stay relevant?
Anyway, I’m so glad you decided to go because I’m SO GLAD to see an honest review of what it was like. That’s what I love about your blog… you don’t just give glowing reviews of everything. It will be really interesting to see how the Vogue Fest develops.
Wait, does it seem wrong that the main chunk of people attending were students? With the amount of student debt there is and the problem with unpaid internships… is this not just another way to reinforce the perception that the ‘fashion world’ in impenetrable, aloof and elitist? I’m thinking the Vogue Fest would REALLY be awesome if they took over Hyde Park, held talks where huge groups could just sit in the grass and listen in to whatever talk they wanted and have music acts interspersed between them. They could even have stalls, nail bars, cafes… like a slightly more refined version of a festival but all of it doused in fashion and Vogue. That’s something I’d pay 75 quid for.
p.s. the David Koma grey top looks AMAZING. I want itttt!

You definitely recounted this fantastically. Great post. I think I saw you there?! You’re right, Tom Ford was utterly charming, but I feel Alex Shulman was a terrible conversationist- (perhaps understandably due to nerves), but she came across as cold and detached, and didn’t respond well to Tom’s banter, which if anything, should have helped put her at ease! She did religiously just stick to her script of planned questions without truly engaging, I thought.
But it was an eye-opening day, and definitely a crowd-pleaser. Thanks for the fantastic coverage- please feel free to check out my Vogue Fest post too athttp://www.stylescoopdaily.com

Hey Jen! I added an extra paragraph at the end to conclude things a bit better. I don’t think the point is to generate income but it is more like a branding exercise.
I really do think it was a little overpriced. Yes, the bulk of the audience were students on fashion-related courses but of course, there are plenty of rich students in London and the event was entirely sold out. Packed to the rafters even.
I think it’s not really in Vogue’s remit to make themselves appear democratic and inclusive. If anything, they are probably the only publication that can do a festival like this and maintain their aloof image. A festival across the scale of a Hyde Park, would of course require a lot more sponsorship and brand involvement (there was already quite a bit of heavy brand involvement here with Vertu phones as headline sponsor and about ten other smaller sponsors). Not sure it’s feasible but it’s a nice idea but perhaps not something that suits a magazine like Vogue. It will be interesting to see whether other publications take on more physical and public participatory events. Grazia for instance could definitely stage something on that scale. Elle even.
P.S. I wanted the James Long jacket with the knitted sleeves. That’s defo a DIY not suitable for home but I loved what he did with the grey marl!

I’m so incredibly jealous that you went to this… I wanted to be there so badly! Especially for the Tom Ford/ Alexandra Shulman talk.
Have a peek at my latest blog posts athttp://lanvinmyman.blogspot.co.uk/
-Amy Rose

As a fashion student, I found the experience amazing in being able to hear direct from the designers/photographers instead of reading about it glossy edited interviews (especially true of Bailey- loved his honesty). I do think it could have been better organised though- they definitely sold too many tickets per session (I didn’t get to see Tim Walker for either talk because it was too full/clashed with designer Q&A, so disappointed), but it was worth taking ¬£75 out of my loan, especially considering people pay about ¬£250 for music festivals. My own account of the day (not as good as Susie’s obvs) is here:http://thestylesieve.blogspot.co.uk/
P.S. THANK YOU SUSIE for letting me have a photo with you!!!! XX

I am also a student (Marketing) and have been trying to get my blog a larger readership, so covering an event like this and getting some industry insight would definitely have helped. However I do feel that I was subject to being filtered out due to the price tag. I wonder if it was expensive because they knew not all of us students would be able to part with that much and didn’t want it to be too full (which it was by the sounds of certain talks). I would be very interested to hear what it was the money is going towards? Vogue’s pocket? Young designers? Anything inspiring?
Thank you also for an honest review. I wish for our sake you’d gone to more! I want to read more from Susie’s point of view!
Shame the decor/lay out wasn’t impressive. Seeing as Vogue’s success is derived from better insight and aesthetic value surely that would be a priority? And for ¬£75/person they could afford to jazz it up as it were.
I will definitely be there next year though!
Hannah Jane

Thanks for a great review ‚Äì I can only imagine how epic it must have been to see Tim Walker in conversation! I’ve clearly been clueless to this event but there is no way I would pay ¬£75 per session to go. ¬£75 for a day, or even the whole weekend, sounds like it would have been far fairer, but I guess if people are willing to pay that and Vogue are happy to charge it then fair enough. x

When I looked at the booking form it was just a flat rate of ¬£75- I’d love to know how I could have done it cheaper for next year. I did feel like it was a lot of money, but I study at Nottingham Trent uni, which is really good/respected etcetera BUT we don’t get as many industry speakers as the london colleges, and I’m always worried that i’m missing out/it’ll be harder graduating from a non-london uni, so I suppose that’s another motivation for me to pay that much…

Biba

¬£75 is an insult. Was the price to assure this would would be some elitist feast? It put me off right away.
But now that i saw Henry Holland in your pics, i’m glad it didn’t went, it couldn’t have been that good.

Really interesting review, I was totally torn about going or not as I absolutely love Tim Walker and am trying currently to write my dissertation on him! However ¬£75 plus the cost of getting to London was way out of my price range (heart breakingly!), It would’ve been great if they had posted more about the cheaper student tickets, Has anyone got any further info/recordings or pictures on what Tim talked about? I’d love to hear more of his stories!
Lovely read on the fest though!
Emily xoxox

I went to Doll House to by a Sherri Hill dress 1403 for the best price quoted $450 for my daughter. I was told that Doll House has a registry and that I would be the only one wearing this style dress at my formal. When I arrived at my formal, there were two 2 other girls wearing exactly the same style dress and they also got it from dollhouse ‚Äì I can‚Äôt begin to tell you how angry and sick that made me feels. I will not be taking my daughter there for her year 12 formal